After years of delay, SCLR-WEH extension may open in May

MUMBAI: The long-awaited and long-under-construction extension to the Santacruz Chembur Link Road (SCLR), connecting it directly to the Western Express Highway (WEH), is 95% complete, as per the construction authority MMRDA, which hopes to open it in the current month of May. But as the extension has crossed many deadlines starting 2019 till the early months of 2025, commuters are waiting with fingers crossed, hoping for a pre-monsoon opening.

The SCLR, which opened to traffic in 2014, gave Mumbai a connector between the eastern and western suburbs, from Kapadia Nagar on CST Road, Kalina, to the Amar Mahal junction, Chembur on the Eastern Express Highway. It is also used by commuters travelling to and from Navi Mumbai and BKC. But as the landing in Santacruz was a distance away from the WEH, commuters wanting to go north over the WEH faced another major traffic hurdle: the Vakola junction.

The flyover’s landing is at the Hans Burga Marg, leaving motorists to traverse the busy stretch of Vakola junction before joining the WEH. Hence, MMRDA in 2016 began work on the extension, with an initial deadline of 2019. But that was not to be.

A change in the flyover’s design to a portion with a cable-stayed bridge, land acquisition issues, and then the 2020 pandemic caused many stops along the way. In 2024, when MMRDA wanted to complete the flyover extension, the elections put a stop to the work. This slowed down permission for traffic blocks from the Mumbai traffic police, which were only given in December last year. With this, the cost of the project also jumped from ₹450 crore to ₹650 crore.

A technically challenging portion of the bridge from an engineering standpoint is the 215-mm cable-stayed stretch—with a 70-degree curve on the Orthotropic Steel Deck (OSD)—going 25 meters above ground and the nine meters above the Vakola flyover, making it a double decker at this point. MMRDA claims that the cable-stayed portion with such a steep curvature is the first in Asia. A Y-shaped pylon sticking tall into the sky provides the supports. In February, MMRDA announced the successful launching of the deck.

“Not only will the extension towards the WEH be of great help to those travelling on the SCLR, it will also reduce the traffic congestion on the Vakola junction, which always poses a problem for locals,” said Anil Upadhyay, who uses the SCLR often. “Those living in and travelling to Vakola will be relieved, as the traffic jams there would slow down ambulances and delay students going for exams. The extension will also make the commute simpler for those going between the eastern and western suburbs.”

The extension will land near Panbai International School in Santacruz on the WEH, providing additional connectivity to the domestic airport. But commuters have raised concerns of increased traffic at the landing, as it will also merge with the traffic emerging from the Vakola flyover. Upadhyay, however, reasoned that the traffic would be affected at the landing but would not be unmanageable if controlled by traffic police during peak hours.